Why We're Changing
Hello lovely SCHEFO supporters!
As many of you might have noticed on our various social media pages, SCHEFO is undergoing a rebranding of sorts, and our organization will soon be called GroundUp Global. To prevent any confusion, we thought it best to tell you all exactly why. 501c3 Status First off, SCHEFO is currently applying for 501c3, tax-exempt status. In order for an NGO to raise serious funds in the U.S. it must be 501c3 certified. Virtually all legitimate organizations operating in the U.S. have 501c3 status, as it signifies a certain level of accountability. However, in order for us to obtain 501c3 the U.S. government requires that we legally separate SCHEFO-Ghana from SCHEFO-New York. For national security purposes the government does not allow American organizations to directly fund international projects. Instead, American organizations must “donate” money to partner organizations operating abroad. Here’s how this affects us: SCHEFO-New York must apply for an official name change. SCHEFO-Ghana will operate exactly the same, however the New York offices must be registered under a different name so that the U.S. government will view us as separate entities and grant us 501c3. We decided on “GroundUp Global” as the new name for SCHEFO! GroundUp Global and SCHEFO will have a direct partnership, and we will be still be working on behalf of the refugee population on the Buduburam Camp. Repatriation to Liberia & GroundUp Global’s Role Apart from our transition to GroundUp Global, there have been some serious developments on the Buduburam Camp that will affect our future as an organization. Most pressing is the UNHCR’s (UN High Commissioner for Refugees) decision to revoke the official refugee status of all Liberian refugees on June 30, 2012. Rwandan and Angolan refugees will also lose their statuses at this time. The refugees of Buduburam will have a 30-day grace period to repatriate to Liberia, obtain Ghanaian residency, or move to third party state. Here is the biggest problem facing the refugees of Buduburam: To benefit from UN repatriation services, and to safely cross borders, refugees must have UN issued identification cards. However, the UN only conducted refugee registration for a short while in 2003, leaving about 30,000 of the camp’s 40,000 refugees without proper documentation. Without ID-cards, refugees have little hope of obtaining legal residency anywhere in West Africa or of finding reliable housing and employment. The potentially grim circumstances facing the Buduburam community has prompted us at GroundUp to shift all of our efforts towards repatriation. We are now launching a Repatriation Campaign with partners Powered by Action and Sun Giant to assist refugees who are interested in returning to Liberia. Our repatriation program will follow four steps:
Helping refugees obtain proper documentation
Organizing travel to Liberia
Situating newcomers in SCHEFO/GroundUp’s transition home in Pleebo, Liberia
Helping once-refugees rejoin Liberian society through reliable employment
The SCHEFO/GroundUp team is currently doing all we can to research legal protocol and to establish NGO partnerships in Liberia. As always, the Buduburam Community is in our hearts and our thoughts, and we are working hard to safely bring them back to Liberia. We are interested in connecting with other non-profits and companies that operate in Liberia to create a support network for the incoming refugees. If you have thoughts or suggestions of contacts, please don't hesitate to reach out. Thanks again for all of your support. We welcome all responses and/or questions at [email protected]! - The SCHEFO/GroundUp Global Team